All 32 NFL personnel departments are frantically sifting through college tapes and making calls to head coaches, offensive coordinators, position coaches, pro liaisons, academic advisors and trainers at the college level for background information and injury history. They are also calling high school coaches for all 80 underclassmen who have declared for the 2013 NFL Draft.

The NFL’s personnel department, located in the league office, and their committee, made up of general managers, VP’s of player personnel and directors of college scouting, have evaluated all players who submitted their name for a round grade based off the most recent film, or DNA. The players are contacted by the NFL league office with the round grade (ie round 1, 1-2, round 2, 2-3 etc) received from the committee, the committee then makes a call to the college contact person with the same information. Each of the 80 players have completed a league mandated three years of college eligibility and all had to submit a written application with the signature of the student athlete and the head coach by January 15th.

These early out juniors have been granted what the NFL calls “special eligibility,” and will be a part of the biggest off season event, the 2013 NFL Draft. It will be held on April 25-27th in New York. The 1st round will be held on Thursday, April 25. The 2nd & 3rd rounds will be on Friday, April 26. Rounds 4-7 will be held on Saturday, April 27.

I worked on the Underclassmen Committee for seven years. Ten years ago the NCAA and Grant Teaff, the Executive Director of the AFCA, approached the NFL and their message was, help us! We don’t want to lose these young players if they are not ready for the next level of competition, we don’t wont agents and their runners to lure them for the wrong reasons, we don’t want our graduation rates to suffer. They responded by developing a process that is still in place, the NFL’s Underclassmen Committee was born.

Each year we have seen the numbers for early out juniors grow for several reasons, below is the number of underclassmen who have declared for the NFL Draft each year for the last ten years.

Three years from now will tell the tale on the careers of these early out juniors. How many will be in the league for a cup of coffee and go back to school to finish their degree or bounce from team to team on practice squads? Who will ascend into pro bowlers, all pros or become Super Bowl champions? Time will tell.